Israeli hostage with ties to Main Line released by Hamas in latest hostage deal

An 84-year-old Israeli hostage who has relatives in the Philadelphia region was released from captivity on Tuesday as part of the ongoing hostage deal with Hamas.

Ditza Heiman, of Kibbutz Nir Oz, has returned to Israel, a family member confirmed. She was among a cohort of 10 Israelis and two Thai nationals who were taken to Egypt on the fifth day of a temporary cease-fire and flown to Israeli hospitals to be reunited with their families, according to the Associated Press.

Amichai Shdaimah, Heiman’s stepson in Ardmore, who has lived in the Philadelphia suburbs for 26 years, previously said that Heiman was among the hostages abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Oz, an agricultural enclave that sits less than two miles from the Gaza border in southern Israel.

Photos taken in the early hours of the morning appear to show Hamas members delivering Heiman in a wheelchair to Red Cross workers at the Rafah border crossing.

“We are very happy that she is back,” Shdaimah said Tuesday.

The Shdaimah family has been raising awareness about the ongoing hostage crisis that has now entered its eighth week, attending vigils and other pro-Israel events throughout the region.

Heiman was one of the founders of Nir Oz and spent her career as a social worker in Israel. She remained committed to the kibbutz even during dangerous times, her granddaughter told Israeli news site Ynet. “It’s home. It’s best here, most comfortable,” Heiman would say, according to the granddaughter. “Where would we go?”

Nir Oz was a focal point of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack, where Hamas militants killed 38 and kidnapped 75 residents, roughly a quarter of the 400-person community, according to the Times of Israel.

Heiman was at home, where she lived alone, when the invasion began. Her family lost contact with her in the morning hours. They tried calling her phone repeatedly until a man answered in Arabic and identified himself as a member of Hamas. Video posted by Hamas on social media later showed Heiman being led out of her home and into her car.

In the days after her abduction, the family tried to glean information about her whereabouts and recruited help trying to deliver medication to her in captivity. “We are trying not to think what she is going through,” Shdaimah said at the time, “because if you start imagining that, it’s unbearable.”

The family will not be granting further news interviews at this time.

Israel returned 30 Palestinian prisoners as part of the hostage deal. The four-day temporary cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas has been extended through Wednesday. Red Cross has used its “neutral intermediary role” in the conflict to help facilitate the delivery of hostages, the organization said.